The Latest: Judge urges settlement in gender passport case

DENVER (AP) — The Latest on a lawsuit challenging requiring people to select a gender when applying for passports (all times local):

2:10 p.m.

A federal judge is hinting he might issue a ruling forcing the government to stop asking people to declare whether they are male or female to get a passport because of a challenge by a Colorado Navy veteran who doesn’t identify with either gender.

U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson said Wednesday that the State Department should settle the legal challenge filed by Dana Zzyym (Zimm) and catch up to an era in which gender is less clearly defined than it was in the past.

Zzyym was born with ambiguous sexual characteristics, a condition advocates refer to as intersex, and does not want to lie on the passport application by declaring male or female gender.

The U.S. since 2010 has allowed transgender people to change the gender designation on their passport but says moving beyond two gender choices would hurt its ability to verify identities.

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3:55 a.m.

A federal judge in Denver is considering whether the U.S. government should require people to pick a gender to get a passport.

The issue emerged through a lawsuit filed by a Colorado resident who was denied a passport for refusing to check “male” or “female” on the application. A judge is set to hear arguments Wednesday.

Lambda Legal sued last year on behalf of Dana Zzyym of Fort Collins, who was born with ambiguous sex characteristics. The lawsuit claims that requiring people to check a box marked either “M'” or “F” is discriminatory and asks people like Zzyym to lie.

Countries including Australia, New Zealand and Nepal allow people to have their gender marked as “X” or “other” on passports.